1. Field
The present disclosure relates to computer-generated animation and, more specifically, to rendering an image of a computer-generated scene using a dependency graph.
2. Related Art
A computer-generated animation image can be created by rendering one or more computer-generated objects to depict a scene in the image. Light sources, materials, textures, and other visual effects can be associated with the computer-generated objects to create a realistic visual appearance for the animation image. A dependency graph can be used to define the relationships between assets (which represent the computer-generated objects) and a variety of visual effects as part of the rendering process. The dependency graph typically includes one or more interconnected nodes associating the assets with one or more visual effects, where a node wire can pass the assets and visual effects from node-to-node for processing. The output of the dependency graph can be used to create a rendered image of the scene.
In a typical implementation, a dependency graph is used to render a scene using a subset of assets that is less than a complete set of assets associated with the scene. For example, some of the objects associated with the scene may be out of the camera's view for a particular rendered scene and, therefore, do not need to be rendered. Because loading assets into memory takes time and resources, it is generally advantageous to only load the subset of assets that are required to render the scene. However, using traditional techniques, the precise subset of assets that are necessary for rendering is not known until all the asset information has been loaded so that the dependency graph can be evaluated. Traditional techniques may result in the loading of assets (including geometry of the computer-generated objects) that are not used, and as a result, consume more computer resources than necessary. It is therefore desirable to create a system for evaluating dependency graphs with less than a complete set of assets associated with a scene.